I was amused to note that a recent edit of the Wikipedia article on Errant Story (here) now includes it in "Category:Libertarian Science Fiction". Setting aside for the moment the fact that we're talking fantasy here, not science fiction, am I the only one who finds this rather goofy? Farrelian culture is arguably libertarian in some ways, but that's only a small part of the story, and I'm not totally sure the description applies even there. The ways of Wikipedia can be strange indeed...

Graybeard wrote:Setting aside for the moment the fact that we're talking fantasy here, not science fiction, am I the only one who finds this rather goofy?

No, you're not. It's silly. There are some political tensions in the comic, but the ones I see don't line up with any current political controversies. This is a good thing. There are plenty of other places to go for that.

The tensions I have in mind are strategic arguments -- Paul vs. Anita on "How do we respond to the destruction of Luminosita?" - Sarine vs. the Council on "How do we respond to Ian?" - and if you treat Ian as a world power all to himself, Meji vs. Ian on "How do we respond to these elves that want us all dead?" I suppose you could try to line up some of the parties' views and argue who's more conservative, whig, forward-school imperialist, or whatever, but to quote Blackadder III, this would be "like fitting wheels to a tomato. Time-consuming and completely pointless."

The government of Farrel, like a great deal else in the Poe-verse (and the world of Bone and the world of Cerebus and I'm sure plenty of comix epics I don't know)...is one of those things that works better if you don't think about it too much.